You wake from suspended animation on a starship, and the orbit is decaying. You are not sure you can trust the other crew members. You are not sure you could take the android in a fair fight, or reach the weapons locker without it noticing. Wait — there is a weapon in your cabin. You don’t remember how it got there.
Xenozine Issue One is a sci-fi murder mystery aboard a doomed vessel, playable in a single session. Every player begins with a handout explaining something nobody else knows about them. Every good suspect has skeletons, and these ones imply motive.
Those secrets come out over the course of play, thrown up by the other players. Some deepen the suspicion. Some are red herrings. Not even the Gamemaster knows who the killer is until the revelation triggers — either the clues stack up, or the killer’s own memory returns and they get a handout in secret.
The first issue in a series of sci-fi zines dedicated to one-shots and supplemental material. It was funded through Zine Quest 2.
What’s inside
- A standalone adventure that plays in one session
- Secret handouts giving every character a motive
- A killer hidden even from the Gamemaster
- Guidance for writing your own one-shot murder mystery